1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods, systems and apparatus for dispensing products for a personal care, and more particularly to a method, system and apparatus, for facilitating the dispensing of personal care products, such as a beauty product, such as, for example, a hair colorant, where the hair colorant components are delivered in a dosage to provide a resultant hair colorant product having the desired characteristics. The invention also may be configured to dispense shampoo, conditioner, skin and scalp treatments, and other beauty and personal care products.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Beauty treatments often involve the use of products to enhance, repair or rejuvenate the skin, hair or body of an individual to improve or change the appearance or characteristic of the individual. One example of a beauty treatment involves hair coloring. Hair coloring compositions are used for coloring human hair. They may be applied by individuals in the home, or professionally in salons and studios. The purpose of hair coloring is to bring about a particular look with the color, which, for some individuals, may involve returning graying hair to its original color, and, for others, may involve altering the individual's hair color by changing it to a different color (which may be for reasons that the individual desires, such as, for example, a fashion, trend or style).
Hair coloring generally is distributed in tubes and bottles. In some cases, the components of a hair colorant may need to be separately provided in order to prolong their useful life, or because of certain adverse chemical reactions that may take place, if stored together. The colorist often utilizes colorant from one or more tubes. In many cases, the colorant or coloring chemicals are wasted, as some of the chemical remains in the tube. Generally, the tubes are supplied containing 2 oz. of colorant. In addition, the colorist or stylist carrying out the coloring of an individual's hair may be required to mix colors, which in some cases, may require a small amount of one particular color. Often, where a small amount of coloring compound is used, the remainder of the coloring compound in the tube must be disposed of, leading to waste both of chemicals as well as the container that held the coloring and packaging. In addition, mixing colors to arrive at a desired color involves time in measuring and matching the colorant components to arrive at the desired color.
The tubes for hair coloring are usually hand-squeezed, from the bottom. Most hair-coloring jobs require an admixture of colors, and hence mixing of dyes from different tubes. The hair colors or dyes must be mixed with a developer, and, in some cases a bleach may be added. Once the dyes are squeezed from the tubes the dyes as well as developer and bleach that also may have been added are mixed together, which is conventionally performed by hand. One prior attempt to automate removal of the dyes from their tubes is disclosed in US Patent Application no. 2009/0161481, which provides rollers that receive the end of the tube, compress it therebetween, and squeeze the dye therefrom. The roller motor may be controlled to provide a desired amount of rotation or squeezing. The '481 application also discloses a separate agitator that is used to mix the dyes that have been squeezed from the tube, or alternatively, a separate mixing station.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,758,347 B2 discloses a system for simulating a resulting custom hair color imparted to hair by a custom hair coloring composition formulated from a mixture of two different hair color preparations with a computer system for generating a visual image representative of a likely resulting custom hair color.
EP 1 374 720 discloses a method for selecting a desired resulting custom hair color imparted to hair by a hair dye product. A user may use a touch screen to select a hair coloring product (such as a product on a store shelf) and the user may enter information about the product or scan the bar code of the product to enter the information. The screen may display a message prompting the user to input information relating to the type of coloration desired (grey coverage, root coverage or highlight), and/or information relating to the initial condition of the hair, apart from its initial color (e.g., previously colored, never colored and/or damaged). The '720 patent document discloses that the information may be later used by a micro-processing system to predict the resulting color of the coloration and/or predict a suitable product for the type of coloration desired. The '720 patent document further discloses displaying visual images on a computer screen for comparison. The '720 patent further discloses a loyalty card, smart card (RFI) chip and CD Disk as a marketing tool that may be used with its device to allow the consumers to earn points, discounts or coupons.
EP 0 443 741 A discloses an apparatus and a method to formulate a custom mixed cosmetic product in response to specific input criteria disclosed to be combinations of hair damage criteria, hair porosity criteria, and hair diameter criteria. The '741 patent document discloses formulating and dispensing a custom mixed cosmetic hair treatment product at the point of sale in response to input criteria. Containers for storing cosmetically functional mixtures that are adapted to interact when proper amounts are mixed to form a cosmetic hair treatment product are disclosed. Mating male and female members with a different shape are provided as a locking means for connecting a container to a reservoir to ensure that the proper mixture is located in the proper container position.
EP 1 817 976 discloses a method that involves inputting into a computer system an initial hair color of the hair, a first shade component amount from a defined collection; a second color shade component amount from the collection, and one or more amounts of one or more additional color shade components from the defined collection. The '976 patent documents discloses using a computer to predict a likely resulting custom hair color based on the inputted initial hair color of the hair and the inputted component amounts and to generate a visual image that represents the likely color to simulate the hair.